The First King
The First King of Pearl Fortress, better known as The First King, is a being that is considered an antagonist of Utopia timeline. He can be considered an Ancient. He appears as a humanoid made up of spirits, surrounded by an aura of calm radiance. He is known as one of the most powerful users of Phases and a master of the powers of Soul. He was well informed of the events of Other World and a major figure in the events there. Creation Dove, the chieftain of Lightning's Shadow Village of Other World, had given the powers of dragons to his five elite members: grey dragon of time, given to Zarr; white dragon of space, given to Shiras (later known as Twin); orange dragon of land, given to Mauheg; blue dragon of the sea, given to Salga; green dragon of air, given to Mint. These five almost completely vanished from the village, carrying out tasks that Fate wanted done in secret. They would sometimes appear, but Fate's true objective slowly shaped to conquering theMarkaj Lands as a base for himself and eventually using it to manipulate and destroy a newly erected government of Other World. The village was prosperous due to Fate's doing, and nobody muttered a concern of anything. The elite dragons were scared and appreciative of the new powers given to them, nevertheless loyal to their master. One of them, a calm long-range fighter and the dragon of the sea, Salga, was doubtful of his master's cause. The breaking point for him was to meet a woman called Esselia and fall in love with her, but Salga was aware that a relationship between one of the five and an ordinary member of the village would force Fate to severely punish him. Overcome with sadness over the realization of the power that he had gained as more like a weight on his shoulders, he began meeting her. When Fate finally found out, Salga had run off with his wife. Giving up all his calm, Fate wanted the traitor destroyed. He sent Mint and Mauheg to watch in case his name ever resurfaced, and appeared for the first time for months to speak to his people. He accused Salga of betrayal and left none of the villagers doubting what the consequences would be. Salga had luckily struck a deal with a traveling Memory Demon who recognized Salga's massive combat potential despite his attempts to hide it. Willing to complete missions to contain threats against the kingdom of Markaj Lands, he and his wife Esselia would be given ranks of royal advisors. Fate, as the perfectionist he was, didn't forget his betrayer, whom he treated as a massive miscalculation and even freely let his dragons observe the world to find the runaway couple. Salga's location was discovered by Shiras, the dragon of space, who fought Salga at Markaj Lands only for Salga to manipulate the battle in his favor by summoning mist and causing the dragon to fall into the depths of the sea. Even though he had won for now, Salga knew that he would likely leave a trail and considered his options. He and Esselia left their positions quietly and left towards a faraway realm that piqued his interest that was floating on the orbit of Other World. It consisted of shiny white stone cliffs and a mountain overlooking a clear-watered lake. It was a beautiful realm where he hoped the two of them could live their life peacefully together. It was only once he arrived that he realized the flaws of the realm. The people of the realm were draining the essence, or "soul", of the realm to sustain themselves, a very peculiar trait of the people there. Unknowingly, these people were condemning themselves to the worst kind of fate, as the realm could not possibly be forever sustained this way. Salga went to one of the temples where the people were conducting such sustenance and analyzed the source. He felt the core of the realm drawing dying breathes, and knew that he would have to act fast. At the same time, he understood that there was not one, but a large number of realms orbiting Other World that he had not previously detected. He tapped into the sources from which the people drew power in the temples, and summoned forth a creature whose essence flowed like it had no bounds. It was the realm incarnate, and as its form solidified, it looked at the eyes of Salga and spoke: "I am the realm." Salga nodded and smiled. "And you will be their first king." The nature of the King Salga was unprepared to what would come next, now that the being was brought to life. The sources, similar to wells, which had sustained the people, dried up instantly as the being drew forth power from all of them and had the energies surge through the walls of the temples and lift them to air. It was then that Salga was not sure what he had summoned. The sheer power of such creature was questionable. Even so, the temples flew to one place, to the top of the realm's mountain, and stacked on top of each other. The energies surged once again and created pathways and staircases between the temples. Atop the mountain then stood a glowing fortress. Salga calmly walked to see the new glimmering white fortress with his own eyes. The most curious of the people did the same. As he arrived and looked, the fortress's rooms were becoming more beautiful and thought out with each tiny surge of the energies. He was fascinated by the being's abilities. It seemed as if it had resonated with the thoughts of its people. The men and women who arrived were surprised as The First King appeared out of nowhere to greet them. "I stand before you. I am the soul of the world and I desire to help you. Let me be your king." The men and women were confused. The radiance of the being was both inspiring and scary at the same time, and not one dared to step forward. They looked at Salga, and Salga muttered: "I know it is hard, but try to trust him." He did not sound convincing, but he knew that there was no use trying to figure out the true nature of the so-known soul of the world. After all, it was a sort of an earth elemental, or as he would define it, a golem that was also a spirit lord. Among the people, a wise old man stepped up. "There seems to be no evil in you... But how do we know you are good?" The being nodded. "I could detest your actions, elder. You have drawn power from within the source of the plane's life, have you not?" it spoke, and the people were confused. "To make it clear, I hold nothing against you. You all are welcome to this place - the Pearl Fortress." Salga spent the next days looking around the fortress and finding out about the nature of the spirit lord's energies. After a few days, he invited Esselia to look over the cliffs with her from the top of the fortress. "I believe I made the right choice. This world is safe." Esselia smiled at him. "Of course it is." Salga then explained to her that he would go and see the other realms orbiting Other World, as they could need help as well. Salga left with few parting words with the King. However, as he had left, the King unleashed its energies to the maximum. It aimed to harvest minerals for weapons and armor and technological purposes. Calmly, Esselia watched changes take place as the King summoned the best warriors to become part of the Royal Guard of Pearl Fortress. Unknown to her, the King was also building a secret room within the fortress - an observatory of sorts. Wherever Salga travelled, the King could trace and create a kind of visualization of the area the sage was at. This was, of course, due to their energies being linked by Salga having summoned the King to the plane. Salga's triumph As Salga had ventured throughout the realms, he had prepared signposts for a massive ritual. He dubbed his creation "Control Ring". Using some of the most technologically advanced, energy-filled or otherwise useful realms among the total of thirty realms that he had found, he activated the ritual. The result was a sort of gravity field with the realms attracting each other with a force like magnetism, but staying far away from each other, locked in place. Salga returned home, thinking to himself that he would be welcomed with open arms. His eyes were, however, filled with anger as he walked to the gates of the more fortified Pearl Fortress and barely managed to talk himself to enter the lair of The King. The feeling was quite mutual, as The King barely showed interest in Salga's return. Salga was frustrated as the news of the trip had no effect. "I already know of all you did, Salga. The power source in Decado was impressive, as were negotiating with the people of Death Lake. I feel like you could..." The King spoke. "What?" he mustered to say. "You SPIED on me?" The King shrugged. "I felt like I was born to watch over the wonders of the world. I simply need you to realize that much. You carved a path and I simply made a map of it." Salga could stand no more of the talk, rushing out of the throne room like there was nothing to discuss any longer. Yet he could not find Esselia to share his concerns, or to calm down. His anger was pent up and he felt no longer comfortable with the situation, or being around The King. The next morning he saw Esselia, who happily informed him that The King had made her a royal advisor. Salga felt disappointed by this, but he swallowed his anger. He felt manipulated by The King, who had undoubtedly decided to promote her wife to simply put him in a bad position to keep good standing with both of them. Salga stayed at the realm, now dubbed Pearl Fortress as well. He could barely muster a few weeks of disguising as calm behavior, unable to shake the anxiety. He desired the solitude and satisfaction of exploration, and he felt some new forces beginning to move on Other World. He suppressed his energies and passed as an elder of fisherman village in order to infiltrate an upstart organization of hopefuls, dubbed Mountain Society. The force he had felt was their leader and something that was out of this world: a man, if he could be called such, with the powers of mind manipulation. Knowing that such organization existed and would probably influence the world in the future, he left a clue of his existence into the archives. Alongside it was a hint of the secret identity of the man behind Other World's mysteries and his former master, Dove. Should someone ever try to uncover the secrets of the world, they would be led towards the mastermind who was located underground, waiting for the day of the fourth Apocalypse. Salga desired nothing to do with it, and wished to leave the continent. He knew that he could no longer stand for The King's behavior. He would start a revolution. The throne of Pearl Fortress The King was already waiting for him to arrive, as the latest trip had visualized him the Mountain Society and the continent to some extent. However, what Salga proved to be capable of was drawing forth immense power and easily overpowering all the members of the guard upon arrival. Yet the sage of the sea kept himself slightly in check, unwilling to rely on his draconine side for the sake of not only losing himself, but not alerting Dove to his whereabouts. The King stepped out of his observatory. He activated a contingency to hide the room for once and for all behind spiritual shrouds. Then he attacked like a lightning striking out of nowhere to strike a clean hit at Salga and have the man fall into sea. The King hoped it would be most effective of having an old man exhaust himself by getting up from the sea. The sage no longer felt any need to conceal his power, and simply activated his blue dragon form, swimming with ease as the master of the sea and springing back up towards the fortress as if nothing had happened. The First King realized the mistake of underestimating the man. He assumed human form as he landed. Esselia had come to see by herself what was going on. The surprise was great when she saw her husband appear out of nowhere, without even greeting her, and fight The King she served. Salga overpowered the man only to be surprised by the sight of Esselia. The King pushed the assailant off the cliff, knowing fully well that the dragon would soar back any second, only to say to Esselia: "Is THIS your idea of justified action?" Esselia could not even mutter a word. The dragon landed and looked at The King and then Esselia. As he changed back, he looked at Esselia. "I need to purge him. I do not believe that he is what I counted on him being." Esselia shook her head in despair. "Think! You are no better than Dove if you try to erase anyone you do not agree with." "Out of the way." Salga looked sadly at the pure being, the being that was certainly like a radiant star, and concentrated his energies. "Leave this place." The King shrugged. "I am THE FIRST KING. You may be the second, but the truth is... I AM THE FIRST KING. My spirit will haunt the throne." Esselia stepped in front of Salga. "Stop it. If you kill him, I will leave!" Salga looked at the woman he had loved and shook his head. "You do realize, I let him go, he will become the greatest evil." With those words, he impaled the King with his hand and summoned a lightning from the previously clear sky to kill the being. Esselia, in fury, cast a seal upon her husband. "I will not take this! You are not the man I once loved!" Leaving him immobile, she returned to the castle and announced that Salga had killed The First King. The members of the guard rushed to the roof to see Salga immobile and took him into custody. However hard Esselia tried, she could not see the good in Salga anymore. Even as he convinced the guards to let him go and became The Second King. What Salga would not know was that even though he gained The King's rightful access to the observatory, a spirit was watching from within and haunting the observatory. The spirit was of course none other than The First King himself. Spirit of vengeance The First King watched as a very strange thing occurred. Queen Esselia, who had become pregnant to his husband, hid it from him. Even as she gave birth, the son was hidden away and given to new parents that would leave to reside on the close-by plane of Coro. The First King understood that the son was forced to disappear because he had the same power as Salga, that being mastery of sea. Esselia's doubt was the opportunity for The First King to exact vengeance. He sent spirits to whisper to her and as the Queen she ascended to the invisible observatory to meet the spirit of the world itself. Even though he was no longer corporeal, the Queen was overjoyed to see the King again. "I need you, my Queen." Then he told how he wished to have Salga retired of his position. Esselia nodded. She did not realize it herself, but her feelings for The First King had overcome the lingering sentiment of her love for Salga. Queen Esselia then organized the royal guard and told them to seize Salga. Salga looked disgusted at the attempt to overtake his throne, but he simply gave it up, lacking motivation to protect a position. He was not interested in such things. However, Esselia's next words greatly wounded her. "You have a son. He is called Kjymoll... but you will never see him. You will never find him. He will overtake you as the master of the seas like I have overtaken this seat of power from you. My love... for you is gone. A dry sea, if you will." The royal guard raised their arms, and Salga concentrated his power for one last time as The Second King. "Very well, Esselia. But to ensure you will not find me either, as you dwell in regret, I will simply crush the 'map', as HE would call it." He almost bitterly spat the words out of his mouth. He crushed the mechanism held by the spirits that allowed access to the observatory and left with no one brave enough to even try to subdue him, not to be heard from again in a long time. Then, as night came to the castle, The First King's ghostly form drifted to the throne room and revealed itself to the guards. "Everyone, please gather." As they gathered to see the spirit of their old king, he told them that the one to take care of affairs from now on would be the Head of Pearl Templars, chosen by vote among the members of royal guard. The Queen would try to do her best to aid that person in their task. Category:Characters